Nickel Boys to open New York Film Festival

Dennis Lim praises Colson Whitehead adaptation

by Anne-Katrin Titze

RaMell Ross's Nickel Boys to open the 62nd New York Film Festival
RaMell Ross's Nickel Boys to open the 62nd New York Film Festival Photo: Anne Katrin Titze

Film at Lincoln Center has announced that RaMell Ross’s adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize–winning novel Nickel Boys, starring Ethan Herisse, Brandon Wilson, Hamish Linklater, Fred Hechinger, Daveed Diggs, and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, will be the Opening Night selection of the 62nd New York Film Festival at Alice Tully Hall on Friday, September 27. The film is produced by Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, David Levine, and Joslyn Barnes, who co-wrote the screenplay with Ross. Orion Pictures and Amazon MGM Studios present a Plan B Entertainment / Anonymous Content / Louverture Films production.

Colson Whitehead Ecstatic Peace Library reading at The Algonquin, hosted by Thurston Moore and Eva Prinz
Colson Whitehead Ecstatic Peace Library reading at The Algonquin, hosted by Thurston Moore and Eva Prinz

“What an absolute honour for Nickel Boys to open the 62nd New York Film Festival... a daydream really, for the crew, the cast, and team who’ve committed so wholeheartedly to its vision,” said RaMell Ross. “It feels almost full circle, given Hale County This Morning, This Evening’s selection in 2018’s New Directors/New Films program. The New York Film Festival in particular constellates much of what one aspires toward through filmic production. Since just after my undergrad when I was wooed by the still and moving image, it has been an extraordinary compendium for global aesthetics.”

“Nickel Boys signals the emergence of a major filmmaking voice,” said Dennis Lim, Artistic Director, New York Film Festival. “RaMell Ross’s fiction debut, like his previous work in photography and documentary, searches for new ways of seeing and, in so doing, expands the possibilities of visual language. It’s the most audacious American movie I have seen in some time, and we are excited and honored to open the New York Film Festival with it.”

Nickel Boys will be released in US cinemas by Orion Pictures/Amazon MGM Studios on Friday, October 25.

The Main Slate selection committee is chaired by New York Film Festival Artistic Director Dennis Lim, and includes Florence Almozini, Justin Chang, K Austin Collins, and Rachel Rosen.

The 62nd New York Film Festival runs from Friday, September 27 through Monday, October 14.

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